Should Senators consider a coaching change?

What a ride it has been for the Ottawa Senators these past couple of weeks between the Shane Pinto sports betting suspension, the first-round draft pick forfeiture, the firing of Pierre Dorion and the humdinger of a news conference from owner Michael Andlauer.

Dorion got the axe largely for a blunder he made off the ice. On the ice, he had put pieces in place that pointed to what should have been a drastically improved team, but the Sens have stumbled to a 4-5-0 record. While they haven’t had Pinto and they’ve already endured injuries on defense, some of the blame has to fall on coach D.J. Smith.

Andlauer indicated he was still in Smith’s corner this week. But should the Senators consider a coaching change? 

MATT LARKIN: I say yes. We’re quietly in season 6 of captain Brady Tkachuk’s career with no tickets to the big dance. Time is a-wastin’. This team hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2017. Between Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, Jakob Chychrun, Drake Batherson, Claude Giroux and so on, Ottawa has far too much talent to keep missing the playoffs. The ‘mid-season coaching change bump’ is statistically proven to work time and again in the NHL, and some teams that make the change before Christmas have engineered massive turnarounds in the recent past (2011-12 Kings, 2011-12 Blues, 2018-19 Blues, etc.). Whether Ottawa’s struggles are Smith’s “fault” no longer matters. This team is not responding enough. The Sens are 124-144-21 since he took over. Time for a spark.

SCOTT MAXWELL: I’m going to also say yes. How many years has it been now that the Ottawa Senators had a strong second half that nearly puts them in a playoff position, and they were only held back by a slow start? Well, the Sens are 4-5-0 to start the year, and while that’s not entirely bad in a vacuum, they also sit in last place in the Atlantic Division, so they’re already losing ground on a playoff spot. Their .467 points percentage since Smith took over is the eighth-worst in the league in that span, and every team below them has made at least one coaching change. The team’s 48.71% 5v5 expected goal share during his tenure has also been very mediocre, ranking 19^th among the 32 NHL teams. It’s roughly the tenure I expected to see from him as a head coach after his questionable decision-making running the Toronto Maple Leafs defense and penalty kill as an assistant coach, and the time has come that the Sens need to move on from him and take that next step. And with Pierre Dorion no longer around to have attachment to the hiring, it should be an easy thing to do.

MIKE GOULD: I would say yes, but I’m not too sure who else they would pursue at this juncture. Bruce Boudreau? Claude Julien? Alain Vigneault? It feels like Michael Andlauer and Steve Staios would want to make a splash and go after a relatively proven head coach to replace Smith if they were to make that move. It’s still early, and I think Smith probably makes it past U.S. Thanksgiving, but four years is a very long time for an NHL head coach. To enter a fifth year behind the bench without any playoff appearances … talk about pressure. I don’t think the Sens are going to be too complacent here, and nor should they be. Jakob Chychrun and Claude Giroux are a little more than a year away from UFA. This team needs to start winning.

FRANK SERAVALLI: I say yes. The Senators woke up in a familiar position on Friday, in last place in their division. By no means do I think their lack of success is all Smith’s fault, but at some point, change is necessary when you continue to achieve the same disappointing results with a roster that we all seem to believe is a pretty good collection of talent. The thing that gets me is it’s not as if Smith has had a short rope. Thursday night was Smith’s 300th career game behind the Sens’ bench. Only one man has coached more games in franchise history: Jacques Martin. This is his fifth season in a league where if you don’t get results, you’re out on your a-- in two and a half. The common refrain that we’ll hear over the next few days is how much the Sens have been crippled by injuries to start this season, but to me, that’s an excuse. Florida is without their top two defensemen for a couple months, it hasn’t stopped them. The Bolts are without their stud goalie. And what exactly is the excuse for being behind the Red Wings … and Habs? The Senators have underachieved, plain and simple. Time to move on.

STEVEN ELLIS: Like everyone else, I think the answer is a resounding yes. There’s been far too many distractions around this group this year, similar to Ottawa a year ago. I feel for coaches tasked with leading the way during a rebuild, and felt there’s been some significant positives over the past few years. But with a new owner and a new interim GM, the last remaining piece of the old guard is Smith. Ottawa is last in the Atlantic Division, but they’re far from out of it right now. We’ve seen how coaching changes can provide a bump, just like it did in Vancouver. A new voice can go a long way in motivating a group to take the next step forward. But who’s the guy? That’s the issue.

COLBY COHEN: I am following suit and the answer to me is yes. It’s absolutely time for the Sens to say goodbye to D.J. Smith. Ottawa has enough good players on their roster that I don’t feel like they should be waking up in last place at any point of the season. We continue to talk about how Ottawa is ready to take the next step and finally get themselves back in the playoffs. We have seen individual growth in certain players’ games like Jake Sanderson but this has yet to translate into team success because to me, it doesn’t look like a group that is connected on the ice, it doesn’t look like a group that has bought into a team message, its also a group that takes shortcuts, whether that is fly-bys at the net front or turning the puck over at the blue line(s). Whether this is fair or not, I do believe goaltending has been a problem for Smith his entire time in Ottawa, and that falls squarely on the former GM’s shoulders not his, but if you look at how Bruce Cassidy was able to get Vegas to buy into managing the puck as well as any team I have seen in years, he was able to win a Stanley Cup with a group of goaltenders that were largely unproven especially in the playoffs. A new voice is needed in Ottawa and I believe maybe the players need to feel a little uncomfortable in order to buy into playing more thoroughly in the dangerous areas of the ice. New owner, new president and interim GM, I would venture to say Smith might not see American Thanksgiving.